The Ten Coolest Indiana Jones Collectibles of All Time

This is the first installment of “The Collector’s Corner”, a special weekly installment of Officially Cool written by guest author Jason Dorough of www.Mechazilla.com. Jason is an avid collector of cool geeky gear and one of the internet’s authorities on things that are “Officially Cool”. Be sure to check back every Wednesday here on Film School Rejects, as Jason will be bringing you the best collectibles that the world has to offer.

It’s been a long time since Indiana Jones last bullwhipped his way into theaters, but now he’s back with a vengeance, and the Indy license never has been hotter. Here’s a look at 10 of the coolest Indiana Jones collectibles from the past, present, and future.

Click any of the images below to see the bigger versions.

1. Well of Souls Playset

In the early 80’s, it was hard to beat Kenner when it came to action figures. They made all those awesome original Star Wars action figures, and they also had the license to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Part of their initial wave of toys for the line was this deluxe playset based on the Well of Souls from the film. The playset came with a breakaway wall, ornate arches, plenty of snakes, and even a mummy. Possibly coolest of all is the Ark of the Covenant accessory, complete with carrying poles.

Sure, at first glance this might look like a toy baker wearing an I Love Lucy housedress, but it is in fact a super-rare action figure from Kenner’s Raiders of the Lost Ark line. How rare, you ask? Rumor has it that less than ten actually exist! This is not to be confused with the mailaway Belloq figure that didn’t come in ceremonial garb. That one’s cool as well, but it’s no less-than-ten Belloq. The pure rarity of this collectible lands it a spot on the list.

The afore-mentioned Dr. Will’s site also has more info about this scarce Belloq.

3. Sideshow Indiana Jones Premium Format Figure

Going more modern and high-end, there’s Sideshow Collectibles’ Indy premium format figure. Their premium format line traditionally delivers awesome quality in a larger-scale collectible with statue-sculpted figures and authentic fabric costumes. Clocking in around 22″ tall, the Sideshow statue will cost you a little less than $300. The Premium Format Figure is currently sold out on preorders, but you still can get onto Sideshow’s wait list and hope somebody ahead of you cancels.

That Premium Format Indy is fantastic, but it might be a smidge out of your price range. If you still want the Sideshow level of quality but don’t want to pay a couple hundred dollars, take a look at this Raiders of the Lost Ark 12″ scale action figure. This Indy comes with loads of accessories, including the famous idol from the beginning of the movie.

Gentle Giant released a series of Indiana Jones paperweights as convention exclusives at this year’s New York Comic Con. Each of the crates looks the same from the outside and comes with a detachable magnetic whip, miniature fedora, removable lid, and rubber snakes. The contents of each crate was packed randomly, though, with a chance to unearth miniature replicas of the golden idol from Raiders, the temple tablet, the Sankara Stones, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skull.

It’s easy to focus on Indiana when you’re building your collection, but it would be a crime to forget about Indy’s dad Henry, played by Sean Connery. Medicom Toy has a 12″ scale addition to their Real Action Heroes line on the way, scheduled for domestic release in the third quarter of this year.

You can preorder the 12″ Henry figure from Sideshow Collectibles, as they’re handling the US distribution.

And if you want more imported Henry awesomeness, check out this ArtFX Henry Jones statue that almost made the official list.

7. ArtFX Raiders of the Lost Ark Statue

Continuing the trend of fantastic foreign collectibles, here’s a realistically styled ArtFX diorama statue produced by Kotobukiya. This is the first in a planned series of statues depicting scenes from the various Indiana Jones movies. The inaugural piece has perhaps the most iconic scene from the franchise, with Indy running from the giant boulder, idol in his grasp.

But let’s say you’re less interested in collecting representations of Indy than in actually becoming the man himself. You’ll have to stock up on the essentials, starting with his trademark bullwhip and maybe even his machete. Licensed replicas of both have been produced by the Noble Collection.

If your collecting tastes slide more towards the fun toy category than the high-end statue realm, you can’t go wrong with Playskool’s new Taters of the Lost Ark toy. This is an Indy Mr. Potato Head, in the vein of the Darth Tater and Spudtrooper toys they released in their Star Wars license. The Indy tater comes with several interchangeable parts, including a little tuber-ized fertility idol, and he plays the Indy theme when you press his hat down.

Rounding out the list is one of my personal favorites, the Indiana Jones Adventure Heroes from Hasbro. Hasbro has made chibified versions of characters from Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Transformers, and soon GI Joe, and now it’s Indy’s turn. These two-packs feature a wide variety of characters from all four Indiana Jones films, and they’re just as much fun for adult collectors as they are for kids to play with.

While it might be a little too bulky or high-end for most collections, one more item that I thought deserved a mention is this pinball machine from Stern Pinball, Inc. The backglass has art from all four movies, and I don’t have to tell you how engrossing pinball can be.

This final piece definitely isn’t worthy of a spot in the top 10, but it deserves mention purely on the virtue of a company’s ballsiness to charge $2000 for a 24″ statue that is sub-par in nearly every way to Sideshow’s much less costly Premium Format Figure. I’m talking about the Indiana Jones Cinemaquette, which you can blink at in financial incomprehension at Cinemaquette.com.

Jason is originally from Atlanta, GA, and like many children of the 80's, his youth was a mixture of Star Wars, He-Man, and GI Joe. He has a degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and has been working in the comics and collectibles industry since 1999. Jason is a lifelong fan of toys and collecting and runs the collectibles blog www.Mechazilla.com. His favorite movies include the Star Wars saga, Kill Bill, Sin City, Can't Hardly Wait, and Garden State, and he's a complete TV addict for loads of series including Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Alias, Dexter, Buffy, and Doctor Who. His comics tastes run in the Marvel vein, and Daredevil and Elektra hold special places in his heart. He currently lives and works near Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.

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